A woman sitting in shock surrounded by blood in the wake of the Boston
marathon bombs has been identified as Nicole Gross.

Mrs Gross, 31, was standing near the finish line of the race in Monday when she was hit by the impact of the bomb, suffering a broken leg and ankle in the process. She also suffered torn skin and her Achilles' tendon was severed.

She sat up in the street, with her clothes torn and legs spattered in blood, when a photographer for the Boston Globe took her picture. She was featured on the front page of Tuesday's New York Daily News among other papers.

Mrs Gross, a personal trainer from Charlotte, North Carolina, had travelled to Boston with her husband Michael and sister Erika Brannock to watch their mother Carol Downing take part in the run.

While Mrs Gross escaped with fractures – her sister was not so lucky. Ms Brannock, a 29-year-old preschool teacher who lives in Baltimore, had to undergo the partial amputation of her left leg, according to the Charlotte Observer. She also suffered a fracture in her right leg as well as a broken ankle and foot.

Speaking to the Observer, he said the "health and recovery [of his wife and sister-in-law] is my only focus".

Ms Downing, 57, said that Mrs Gross was in a stable condition after a second surgery on Tuesday.

"She remembers it all," she said. "And just wishes that she didn't."

“First thing we heard was that there was an explosion, like kind of an electrical thing. And then we heard that it was two explosions. And then there was just a lot of medical personnel, cars, sirens," she added.